Dispatches:
The Killing Zone
Sandra Jordan
Palestinian civilians live under the threat of Israeli Defence Force attacks that do not discriminate between militants and children. Israeli setlers live in fear of suicide attacks. But it is not only Palestinians and Israelis who are dying. Since the Gulf war, three Westerners have come under Israeli army attack.
An American peace activist was crushed to death by an IDF bulldozer; a British peace protester was shot in the head by an IDF sniper and remains in a coma; and last weekend, a British cameraman was shot dead by the IDF.
Within hours of arriving Sandra and Rodrigo are shot at and tear-gassed by Israeli troops breaking up a memorial service for Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist crushed by an Israeli Army bulldozer two days before.
That sets
the tone for a five-week stay in which they
document the shooting
by Israeli troops of the British peace campaigner
Tom Hurndall, the death of
James Miller, the award-winning cameraman
who worked extensively for Channel 4, killed
as he filmed Israeli troops bulldozing Palestinian
homes, and the deaths and mutilation of
many innocent Palestinians and Israelis.
The Dispatches team reveals what life is like in what has become a fully blown war zone. Their film captures the aftermath of an Israeli missile attack that assassinates a leader of the deadly Hamas group. Children who happen to be playing in the street nearby are killed or have limbs blown off.
They film the aftermath of an attack in which Israeli troops fire modified tank shells that explode in mid air above densely populated civilian areas and spray thousands of razor sharp darts, or flechettes, in an arc some 300 metres long and 90 metres wide. The team encounters sniper fire from Israeli watchtowers, and endures tank shelling alongside a class of terrified school children.
In one of
the most shocking moments in the film, Dispatches
captures
heartbreaking scenes in a Palestinian hospital
minutes after Tom Hurndall
was shot through the head, rescuing a seven-year-old
child from the line of
gunfire.
Jordan and Vasquez also investigate the death of James Miller, the award-winning cameraman. They find that eyewitnesses tell a story sharply at variance with the official Israeli account.
Related Links
Rachel Corrie's Memorial Website
Related Items
Film:
Rachel: An American Conscience